Regatta time in the Whitsunday Islands

Was this year's Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island the stage for a display of new technology that will completely change the face of sailing as we know it?

The dominance of the Big Boat class by Bob Oatley's new 60-footer Wild Oats had lots of people talking that way. Designed by US company Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design, built in southern Queensland by Azzura Yachts and sailed by a talented team including the boat's project manager Ian Smith, Mark Richards at the helm and Marcus Blackmore navigating, the sleek racer won six of the nine races in its first regatta. And it did so utilising a patented system called Canting Ballast-Twin Foil (CBTF), which involves a keel which can be swung from side to side plus two rudders (bow and stern).

But more on that later; first let's set the scene...

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR
This wasn't quite the biggest fleet yet in the event's 19 years. The 176 starters numbered just one short of last year's record fleet, which added up to a lot of party people and a chock-a-block marina.

There were starters from New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore, as well as from all Australian states and territories. Not everyone had gone to the trouble of sailing their own boats all the way from home to the Whitsundays, thanks to the locally-based charterboat fleets providing a popular alternative and bolstering the cruising fleet numbers.

The regatta's evolution reflect wider developments in the sport. One-design racing continues to grow in popularity, with a separate division for the Sydney 38 class providing the closest racing all week. (But there was no Farr 40 OD class this year.)

The sportsboat division has not revived since being dropped for lack of entries last year, while the cruising ranks continue to swell and reflect the march of technology ever onwards, with entries now allowed to carry exotic sails (eg, mylar, kevlar and spectra). The decision to split the cruisers into two fleets, including a Premium Cruising class for the bigger boats, has proved successful.

At the hard-core racing end, this year marked the demise of the International Measurement System (IMS) as the regatta's primary handicapping system, giving way to IRC.

The regatta format once again included a mixture of short windward-leeward courses and longer passage races. The Whitehaven Beach day remains successfully reinstalled in the program, in spite of a drizzly day for this year's party.

WELCOME TRADES
After two years of relatively light Hahn Premium Race Weeks, it was good to see several days of the moderate to fresh south-easterly trades for which the region is well known. These were interspersed between some tricky days of light easterlies and sou'easters.

Nothing has happened since last year to stem the Whitsundays' trademark strong tidal flows, part of the great challenge of racing around the islands.

It was the prospect of adverse current which caused the reversal of the Coral Sea Race for the first time in the regatta's history. The traditional 83nm course takes the fleet south to Coppersmith Rock, out to Edward Island and then north around Hook and Hayman Islands and back down to Hamilton. This year the fleet went around the other way, over a slightly shorter course directly up Dent Passage to the finish (rather than around Dent Island), with a course record of 8hr 24min 17sec set by Neville Crichton's new 90-footer, Shockwave.

Just as the tides are still flowing, those evil coral outcrops are still waiting to attack the keels of racing yachts. Most years claim a celebrity victim or two: this time it was the Davidson 59 Aftershock, pictured on our previous pages hard aground shortly after the start of the first race.

NEW TECHNOLOGY
Back to that CBTF arrangement on Wild Oats, which was such a talking point all through the regatta. It has been developed by Californian company DynaYacht Inc, which has formed a joint venture with Reichel/Pugh Yacht Design to employ the system.

Jim Pugh, President of Reichel/Pugh, said: "I'm confident that CBTF represents the most efficient use of ballast weight for righting moment, while side force is optimized by the twin foils (rudders) which efficiently steer the yacht.

"Compared to other 'new technologies' such as water ballast and canting keels, CBTF is clearly superior."

According to DynaYacht, two steering foils, located fore and aft, steer the boat and provide hydrodynamic lift (or side force). The centre ballast strut cants through an arc of 110º, providing highly efficient righting moment to counteract the heeling force of the wind on the sails and allowing the boat to be considerably lighter (only about 9.5t in the case of Wild Oats).

"Steering is intuitive and as simple as any traditional sailboat," DynaYacht explains. "The front foil (rudder) turns in an opposite direction to the aft foil (... since it is forward of the boat's pivot point). Steering control is much more positive than on a boat with a single rudder.

"...Positioning the ballast is intuitive - just move the ballast to minimize heel (except for drifting conditions where heel is desired to fill the sails)."

According to Wild Oats' project manager, Ian Smith, the yacht's keel is moved from one side to the other using a hydraulic ram powered by an electric motor, a procedure taking only 14 seconds.

Particularly remarked upon was Wild Oats' ability to sail high to windward without sacrificing speed, on a number of occasions appearing to effortlessly force larger yachts to tack away from her windward hip.

Another innovative feature is the Yanmar engine with MerCruiser sterndrive leg, which can be retracted into the hull when not required.

AWESOME
While Wild Oats was the most talked-about yacht at Hamilton Island, it was certainly not the only stand-out. Also sailing its first regatta was the awesome new Shockwave, Neville Crichton's 90-footer, which left the other maxis bobbing in its wake in every race and finished second overall on IRC handicap to Wild Oats.

Also designed by Reichel/Pugh as a larger version of Crichton's previous maxi, Shockwave was built in Sydney by McConaghy Boats - recognised as among the world's best yachtbuilders using composite materials - with carbon fibre used in the construction of virtually everything, including the hull, keel and rudder, mast and boom, the mainsail and headsails.

The hull was then shipped to Auckland for Southern Spars to step the 135ft carbon fibre mast and complete the rigging, while the keel was being flown out from America. North Sails Australia designed and produced the inventory of moulded carbon aramid 3DL working sails and Gradient design spinnakers.

SPORTY RACERS AND CRUISERS
Other new and interesting yachts included yet another Reichel/Pugh design, in this case a sporty 36-footer called XLR8, built for Geelong yachtsman Graeme Troon by Hart Marine in Mornington (Vic).

The striking new Thompson T980 OD Gladiator (Gary Hopes) was another eyecatcher.

Meanwhile, a lot of development was evident in the performance cruising area, particularly with deckhouse designs. Examples included Marnico, a 15.3m Dibley design for Graeme Footer of Adelaide, and Degrees of Freedom, an 11.6m Runnalls design all the way from Fremantle (WA).

Another impressive new cruiser was the 51ft Merlin of 1972 Olympic Gold Medallist yachtsman David Forbes and co-owner Richard Brooks. It was co-designed by Forbes with America's Cup designer Phil Kaiko and was built by McConaghy Yachts. Set up for cruising, it features a lifting keel, carbon rig and twin rudders.

Another newcomer was the brightly-coloured Lyons Extreme 50, Excalibur, from Melbourne (Alan and Auriol Saunders), built by Applied Alloy Yachts in conjunction with a large group of dedicated crew volunteers. It has an aluminium hull with GRP/foam sandwich deck.

BIG
It would have been very hard to miss Lang Walker's multi-boat presence, with two Kokomos entered for the regatta.

One was the beautifully proportioned superyacht Kokomo, a 40m Dubois design built by Alloy Yachts International in Auckland.

The other Kokomo, Walker's 'little boat' selected by his team for the short-course race days, was a Farr 40 OD.

Another head-turner was the classic two year-old Swan 80, Maligaya, which had travelled all the way from the Asian circuit to win the Premier Cruising division for its Manila-based owner, Andres Soriana. It was one of three Swans at the regatta.

NEXT YEAR
Once again, Hamilton Island's race week ran extremely smoothly, benefitting from the capable and experienced regatta management team led by regatta director Warwick Hoban and the impressive capacity of the island to handle the influx of so many sailors and their families.

The disappearance of Ansett, originally the only airline flying direct to the island and a long-term race week sponsor, has made the regatta a more expensive option for many participants, but that didn't seem to dent the number or enthusiasm of this year's crowd.

The enduring popularity of the event seems largely tied to its ability to provide a challenging racing program for the serious sailors (well-managed on the water with full back-up ashore), alongside a more relaxed agenda for the cruisers.

Castlemaine Perkins has sponsored the regatta throughout its 19 years (previously as XXXX, now with Hahn Premium), in what may be the longest sponsor-ship in Queensland sport.

Next year's regatta is scheduled for August 16-23.

OVERALL RESULTS: BIG BOAT (9 starters)
1. Wild Oats (Reichel/Pugh 60, Bob Oatley), 1-2-1-1-1-1-4-1-4, 794; 2. Shockwave (Reichel/Pugh 90, Neville Crichton), 2-1-5-4-2-2-3-3-1, 784; 3. Heaven Can Wait (Welbourne 15.2m, Warren Johns), 3-3-5-3-6-1-4-2, 778; 4. Aftershock (Davidson 59, Colin Oneil), 5-4-3-2-4-3-5-6-3, 771; 5. Starlight Express (Davidson 16.8m, Stewart Thwaites), 6-6-4-3-5-7-2-7-5, 762.

IRC (32 starters)
1. Quest (Nelson/Marek 46, Bob Steel), 4-6-1-1-1-1-1-4-1, 792pts; 2. Ticket of Leave (#Beneteau 40.7, Kevin Wood), 5-4-4-15-6-2-16-10-4, 750; 3. Peugeot Racing (Beneteau 36.7, Peter Whitford & Neville Wittey), 3-1-6-11-14-19-25-1-3, 744; 4. Shining Sea (Sydney 38, David Nathan), 2-9-13-12-11-3-15-6-5, 739; 5. P&O Nedlloyd (Beneteau 40.7, David Beak & Michael Spies), 21-3-12-10-12-10-6-3-6, 738.

IMS (8 starters)
1. Magic Carpet (Pacific 50, Roy Ditmarsch), 1-2-4-1-2-2-1-2-3, 789pt; 2. P&O Nedlloyd, 5-1-2-3-3-4-2-1-1, 786; 3. Sting (Farr 50, Terry Mullens), 2-6-1-2-1-3-3-3-2, 785; 4. Zoe (Murray 12.5m, Wayne Millar), 3-4-3-4-4-1-4-7-5, 773; 5. Honeysuckle (Beneteau 40.7, Ray Harris), 4-3-8-6-7-5-6-4-4, 761.

Sydney 38s (17 starters)
1. Bashful (Hugo van Kretschmar), Dnf-2-1-1-2-1-1-5-3, 788pt; 2. Another Challenge (Lou Abrahams), 8-4-3-2-3-5-2-3-5, 773; 3. London Tavern (Justin Lambeth), 9-8-2-3-7-3-12-1-4, 764; 4. AMI Jade (Peter McNamara), 3-3-10-9-6-2-6-7-1, 764; 5. Rush (Burns/Ellis/Williams) 1-11-12-7-5-8-3-4-7, 755;

Performance Handicap (20 starters)
1. Second Time Around (McConaghy 14m, John McConaghy), 8-7-5-1-6-5-7-10-10, 752pts; 2. Edwin K (Jeanneau Sun Fast 40, Robert Gardner), 2-3-13-6-16-2-13-3-7, 751; 3. Kerinda (Lidgard 10.6, Leonard Payne), 4-4-9-9-8-13-4-5-6, 751; 4. Cosmic Cruz (Beale 12.8, Evan Innes-Jones), 6-8-8-4-4-8-3-11-9, 750; 5. Kick (Elliott 10.5 Mod, Ian Harvey), 7-9-7-12-7-3-8-8-2, 749.

Premier Cruising (15 starters)
1. Maligaya (Swan 80, Andres Soriano), 2-1-2-1-1-5, 496; 2. Margaret Rintoul V (Frers 18.5m, Stan Edwards) 1-2-1-3-5-1, 495; 3. Savoir-Faire (Beneteau 47.7, Malcolm Roe), 3-6-3-2-2-2, 488; 4. Leda (Swan 48, T McGrath & G Gowing), 6-8-5-7-4-3, 475; 5. Moonblue 2 (Warwick 64, Peter Churchouse), 5-3-6-5-9-6, 475.

Cruising (83 starters)
1. Gecko (Northshore 370, Trevor Bailey), 11-3-9-3-6-2, 477pts; 2. Magnolia (Camper & Nicholson 60, Peter Higgins), 1-14-1-10-30-3, 473; 3. What a Relief (Beneteau 411, Tim Lewis), 2-1-21-12-10-4, 472; 4. Struen Marie (Clarke 10.6m, Kenneth Pryor), 17-2-6-8-7-5, 472; 5. Risque (Beneteau Oceanis 390, Joanne Hughes), 5-6-4-47-13-6, 466.

The Whitsundays' 'other' hot August regatta continues to gather momentum at Airlie Beach. Envy those in the fortunate position to do both...

This year's 13th Hog's Breath Race Week, conducted by the Whitsunday Sailing Club in association with the Hog's Breath restaurant chain, was signified by an effort to provide some serious racing for those looking for more than beer-can cruising.

Traditionally an arbitrary handicap event with less emphasis on winning than on having a good time, the regatta nonetheless has been attracting increasing numbers of raceboats now that it has reverted to its original timeslot in the week immediately prior to Hamilton Island's big bash.

An IRC handicap division was introduced, and dominated by Colin O'Neil's Davidson 59, Aftershock.

But the closest and most exciting racing was provided by the fleet of 21 Sydney 38s, competing for their Australian class title.

Veteran Australian ocean racing yachtsman Lou Abrahams celebrated his 75th birthday by winning the event. Despite serious illness, Abrahams sailed Another Challenge more than 1500nm north up the east coast from his home base, Sandringham Yacht Club (Vic), to Airlie Beach to defend the championship title he and his team won at last year's Hog's Breath Regatta.

With Carl Schmidt at the helm, Another Challenge was able to clinch the series by just one point from Sydney's Peter McNamara, an experienced campaigner who is a newcomer to the class in AMI Jade.

OVERALL RESULTS: Sydney 38 Australian Championship (21 entries):
1. Another Challenge (Lou Abrahams), 17pt; 2. AMI Jade (Peter McNamara), 18; 3. Rush (Cameron Miles), 21; 4. Andrew Short Marine (Andrew Short), 22.5; 5. London Tavern (Justin Lambeth), 24.

IRC Division (14 entries):
1. Aftershock (Colin O'Neil), 8pt; 2. Ticket Of Leave (Kevin Wood), 15; 3. Hollywood Boulevarde (Ray Roberts), 19; 4. Kokomo (Lang Walker), 23; 5. Sensation (James Ingle), 25.5.

PHS Division 1 (14 entries):
1. Moonblue 2 (Peter Churchouse), 17pt; 2. Champagne on Ice (Phil & Nada Dickinson), 20; 3. Outside Chance (Barrie & Chris Elsbury), 20; 4 . Kerinda (Len Payne), 26.6; 5. Outsider (Bo Wharton), 28.

PHS Division 2 (26 entries):
1. Out Of The Blue (Frank Brace), 32pt; 2. Impulse (John Crawford), 32; 3. Idle Time (Kevin Fogarty), 32; 4. Wobbly Boot (Craig Piccinelli), 37; 5. Epsilon (Michael Tromp), 39.

Cruising Division (20 entries):
1. Panacea (Peter Helm), 13pt; 2. Earl Grey (Norm House), 14; 3. After Noon (Greg MacMahon), 19; 4. Shala V (Graham Roberts), 19; 5. Warrigal (Jim Finch), 20.

Multihulls PHS (11 entries):
1. Zippy (Bernie & Dalwy McErlane), 17pt; 2. Highly Strung (Leo Rodriguez), 17; 3. EMultihulls.com (Keith Roberts), 18; 4. Trilogy (Keith Glover), 22; 5. Wilparina II (Robert Remilton), 22.

Multihull OMR:
1. Trilogy, 5pt; 2. Wilparina II, 11; 3. EMultihulls.com, 13.